70 + Ways you could lose your home and how you can protect it
As a local Realtor® servicing Virginia Beach and the surrounding cities, I always recommend that my clients protect their investment with Title Insurance! Here are 70+ title issues that can pop up and cause you to lose your home if you do not have title insurance.
This article was provided by one of my preferred title companies and I wanted to share it because most people do not know what Title insurance is and how it can benefit them.
Article provided by:
Amanda Sams
Shaheen Law Firm
757.961.5570
asams@shaheenlaw.com
Authorized to practice Law in Virginia and North Carolina
There are many title issues that could cause you to lose your property or your mortgage investments. Even the most careful search of public records may not disclose the most dangerous
threat: hidden risks. These issues may not be uncovered until years later. Without title insurance from a reputable and financially secure company, your title could be worthless. With the proper insurance, your rights will be defended in court.
- Forged deeds, mortgages, satisfactions, or releases
- Deed by person who is insane or mentally incompetent
- Deed by minor (may be disavowed)
- Deed from corporation, unauthorized under corporate
by-laws or given under falsified corporate resolution - Deed from partnership, unauthorized under partnership
agreement - Deed from purported trustee, unauthorized under trust
agreement - Deed to or from a “corporation” before incorporation,
or after loss of corporate charter - Deed from a legal nonentity (styled, for example, as a
church, charity, or club) - Deed by person in a foreign country, vulnerable to
challenge as incompetent, unauthorized, or defective
under foreign laws - Claims resulting from use of “alias” or fictitious name
style by a predecessor in title - Deed challenged as being given under fraud, undue
influence, or duress - Deed following nonjudicial foreclosure, where required
procedure was not followed - Deed affecting land in judicial proceedings (bankruptcy,
receivership, probate, conservatorship, dissolution of
marriage) unauthorized by court - Deed following judicial proceedings subject to appeal
or further court order - Deed following judicial proceedings where all
necessary parties were not joined - Lack of jurisdiction over persons or property in judicial
proceedings - Deed signed by mistake (grantor did not know what
was signed) - Deed executed under falsified power of attorney
- Deed executed under expired power of attorney
(death, disability, or insanity of principal) - Deed apparently valid, but actually delivered after
death of grantor or grantee, or without consent of
grantor - Deed affecting property purported to be separate
property of grantor, which is in fact community or jointly
owned property - Undisclosed divorce of one who conveys as sole heir of
a deceased former spouse - Deed affecting property of deceased person, not
joining all heirs - Deed following administration of estate of missing
person who later reappears - Conveyance by heir or survivor of a joint estate who
murdered the decedent - Conveyances and proceedings affecting the rights of
service member protected by the Service-Members Civil
Relief Act - Conveyance void as in violation of public policy (payment
of gambling debt, payment for contract to commit crime,
or conveyance made in restraint of trade) - Deed to land including “wetlands” subject to public trust
(vesting title in government to protect public interest in
navigation, commerce, fishing, and recreation) - Deed from government entity, vulnerable to challenge as
unauthorized or unlawful - Ineffective release of prior satisfied mortgage due to
acquisition of note by bona-fide purchaser (without notice
of satisfaction) - Ineffective release of prior satisfied mortgage due to
bankruptcy of creditor prior to recording of release
(avoiding powers in bankruptcy) - Ineffective release of prior mortgage or lien, as fraudulently
obtained by predecessor in title - Disputed release of prior mortgage or lien, as given under
mistake or misunderstanding - Ineffective subordination agreement causing junior interest
to be reinstated to priority - Deed recorded but not properly indexed so as to be
locatable in the land records - Undisclosed but recorded federal or state tax lien
- Undisclosed but recorded judgment or spousal/child
support lien - Undisclosed but recorded prior mortgage
- Undisclosed but recorded notice of pending lawsuit
affecting land - Undisclosed but recorded environmental lien
- Undisclosed but recorded option, or right of first refusal, to
purchase property - Undisclosed but recorded covenants or restrictions, with (or
without) rights of reverter - Undisclosed but recorded easements (for access, utilities,
drainage, airspace, views) benefiting neighboring land - Undisclosed but recorded boundary, party wall, or setback
agreements - Errors in tax record (mailing tax bill to wrong party resulting
in tax sale, or crediting payment to wrong property) - Erroneous release of tax or assessment liens, which are later
reinstated to the tax rolls - Erroneous reports furnished by tax officials (not binding
local government - Special assessments which become liens upon passage
of a law or ordinance, but before recorded notice or
commencement of improvements of which assessment
is made - Adverse claim of vendor’s lien
- Adverse claim of equitable lien
- Ambiguous covenants or restrictions in ancient documents
- Misinterpretation of wills, deeds, and other instruments
- Discovery of will of supposed intestate individual, after
probate - Discovery of later will after probate of first will
- Erroneous or inadequate legal description
- Deed to land without a right of access to a public street or
road - Deed to land with legal access subject to undisclosed but
recorded conditions or restrictions - Right of access wiped out by foreclosure on neighboring
land - Patent defects in recorded instruments (for example, failure
to attach notarial acknowledgment or a legal description) - Defective acknowledgment due to lack of authority of
notary (acknowledgment taken before commission or after
expiration of commission) - Forged notarization or witness acknowledgment
- Deed not properly recorded (wrong county, missing pages
or other contents, or without required payment) - Deed from grantor who is claimed to have acquired title
through fraud upon creditors of a prior owner
And extended coverage may be requested to protect against
such additional defects as: - Deed to a purchaser from one who has previously sold or
leased the same land to a third party under an unrecorded
contract, where the third party is in possession of the
premises - Claimed prescriptive rights, not of record and not disclosed
by survey - Physical location of easement (underground pipe or sewer
line) which does not conform with easement of record - Deed to land with improvements encroaching upon land of
another - Incorrect survey (misstating location, dimensions, area
easements, or improvements upon land) - “Mechanics’ lien” claims (securing payment of contractors
and material suppliers for improvements) which may attach
without recorded notice - Federal estate or state inheritance tax liens (may attach
without recorded notice) - Preexisting violation of subdivision mapping laws*
- Preexisting violation of zoning ordinances*
- Preexisting violation of conditions, covenants, and
restrictions affecting the land*
And many more..
Provided by an Independent Policy-Issuing Agent of First American Title Insurance Company
First American Title Insurance Company makes no express or implied warranty respecting the information presented and assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. First
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